Its all about timing

For instance i was pulling out of my driveway this morning when my pager went ''Common Rosefinch at Kenton bank foot metro station'' :0 this site is only 7 miles away from my house, so off i went up the A1. When i arrived i parked up and got out of the jeep only to hear the Common Rosefinch singing its little heart out, the bird wasn't showing though :( so i decided to get a bit height by standing on the metro platform only to hear the bird singing on the other side of the railway, i turned around for a look and the bird flew up and over the houses only to drop again on the other side of the estate not to be seen again :( i walked around the other side of the estate but there was no sign of it and it had stopped singing by this time. I decided to call it a day after 1 hour and with another year tick under the belt :) 4 hours later and its still not showing, i couldn't of time it better :)

Melodious Warbler Twitch

Set off for Notts at 4:30am, target birds were Melodious Warbler & a chance of Ring-necked duck on the way back :0 i arrived at Tiln lane at 7:30am, it took an extra 30mins trying to find the place :( once i parked up the jeep i had a 30 min walk to the site, i picked up cuckoo and green woodpecker on the way, when i arrived there was another 5 birders who already had the bird for my arrival :) the Melodious warbler was singing away but was very elusive, it took about 15 mins before i managed to get some good views :) then it was time to get the camera out and try for a few shots which i'm pleased with the results, i stayed for an hour or so before heading back north for the ring-necked duck which had been reported at Catterick racecourse lake on Sunday night. It didn't take to long before i was onto the bird which was with 16 tufted ducks :) so Melodious warbler was a lifer for me and ring-necked duck made it 2 year ticks today, not a bad day at the office :) finished of with a good walk around Catterick racecourse and a quick kip before heading back home, here's a few shots of both birds.

gateshead year tick

With the water levels controlled again at shibdon it should attract some waders? Or dabbling ducks? A day or so in and it has, green sandpiper dropped into shibdon at 9am only to fly off before i arrived :( not to worry though, prof pochard found another at bradley hall pond later in the day which i managed to get this time :) new gateshead year tick. Cheers prof :)

Singing Wood Warbler

A singing male Wood Warbler was found by Paul Davidson yesterday, which was still in Chopwell woods today :) first for eight years and a Gateshead lifer for me :), this takes the Gateshead year list to 132. wasn't easy to photograph, but as the light got out later in the day, we were able to get some better shots, great find. Also a family of tawny owls and a green woodpecker nearby. Other birds around this week included an eclipse drake gadwall and 2 shoveler at shibdon pond.

Male Wood Warbler

lucky text :)

Finished work at 7:30pm tonight, my routine after work would be - go to tesco - give tilly a short walk when running bath - have bath - then sit down with a cuppa and check pager to see if anything is around to go for in the morning? But my normal routine wasnt to be :0 as i was leaving work at 7:30pm i noticed i had a text from rob saying "marsh warbler in the bag" :0 so i checked the rba app on my phone and noticed a marsh warbler was only 20 mins away at st marys island :0 as marsh warblers dont normally hang around i decided to go straight home and get tilly and my bins :0 i arrived at st marys at 8pm and didnt have to wait long before i heard the marsh warbler singing from bushes at the north end of the wetlands, the bird showed briefly twice. So thats why i titled this post as lucky text, because if it wasnt for that text i wouldnt have marsh warbler on my year list:) cheers rob for trying to rub it in when im at work ;) lol. Great stuff!!!

Garden lifer :)

Took Tilly for her last walk and was over the moon to hear a Cuckoo calling from the Derwent cp, that's a new Gateshead year tick and a one for the foot list :) then i thought if i run home i could get this on my garden list :0 get in! i managed to hear it calling from the garden :) lol. A new garden lifer!!! i know what your thinking ''thats not in your garden'' hey, my garden my rules :) i include any bird seen or heard in or from my garden, makes it more interesting :0 lol. How else will i reach 100 species, garden life list stands at 84.

Dragonfly & Butterfly time

Kibblesworth brick works pools today held Four Spotted Chaser, Large Red Damselfly, Azure Damselfly and Common Blue Damselfly. Stargate pond held a single Broad-Bodied Chaser yesterday, Butterflies - Speckled Wood at paddock hill wood and lochaugh farm, Small tortoise shell at lochaugh farm Wall Brown at stargate pond, Large White, Orange Tip, Green Veined, Small White, Peacock were in my garden.

Four Spotted Chaser

Kibblesworth brick works pool, Gateshead's best Dragonfly pond